Whitmer has not made announcements yet on top staff, cabinent officials

Chad Livengood/Crain's Detroit Business

Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is calling on outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to preserve the executive branch powers he has worked under for eight years by vetoing legislation that would curb those powers.

LANSING — Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer is urging outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder to preserve executive branch powers that the Republican-controlled Legislature is inching closer to whittling away in the final days of a contentious lame duck session.

Whitmer said the so-called power grab bills the Legislature has been passing over the past three weeks run counter to Snyder's long-standing call for more political civility and cooperation as she and two other Democrats prepare to take control of the executive branch on Jan. 1 with a smaller Republican majority still controlling the legislative branch.

In an interview Friday with Crain's, Whitmer said it would be politically "destructive" for Snyder to curtail the powers of the executive branch on his way out the door.

"Forty-eight governors have had a set of powers that the people expect them to be able to have and use," said Whitmer, who will become the state's 49th chief executive. "And it would be a shame, and I think he sees it, that perhaps it would be a shame that the 49th, 50th and 51st (governors) and on and on would not have that same powers that the people of the state expect and envision when they choose their officials."

Since winning the election on Nov. 6, Whitmer has been holding weekly meetings with Snyder as her transition team assesses state agencies and makes policy and personnel recommendations.

So far, Snyder hasn't shown his hand on how he'll come down on bills pending in the Legislature that would strip Secretary of State-elect Jocelyn Benson of campaign finance oversight and give the House and Senate the power to intervene in lawsuits against the state — a power normally reserved for the attorney general.

Benson and Attorney General-elect Dana Nessel have opposed the legislation as well.

One bill sitting on Snyder's desk this week would prohibit Whitmer's state departments from setting any kind of regulations that are more stringent than federal regulations.

That could run the gamut from licensing rules and regulations for certain businesses and industries to environmental cleanup procedures for polluted land.

Snyder vetoed similar legislation in 2011 — and Whitmer is urging him to do it again in the interest of civility and a peaceful transition of power after eight years of complete GOP rule of state government.

"It's so destructive and we can't afford to watch this divisiveness continue into the next term," Whitmer said. "And this makes it a lot harder to get to a place where we're solving problems together."

The Legislature is officially scheduled to be in session through Thursday this week.

One major piece of final business for the Legislature this year is divying up a $371 million supplemental appropriations bill.

Snyder has called for $183 million to be poured into road repairs and another $160 million of the surplus to be stashed away in the state's $1 billion Rainy Day Fund for Whitmer and the Legislature could rely on to balance the state budget in the next economic recession.

No staff decisions yet

Whitmer's transition team has not yet announced any top hires for department directors or senior staff in the governor's office.

"We'll make some announcements soon," Whitmer said Friday.

The transition team, led by attorney Mark Bernstein, has sent "landing teams" into each state department to assess issues, personnel and make policy recommendations, Whitmer said.

"So as we go in, as my director walks in, we've got a thorough and thoughtful overview of what they're confronting as a department head," Whitmer said.

Whitmer's transition team, housed in a basement office in Constitutional Hall in Lansing, also has been receiving resumes for the past month from individuals interested in appointed jobs in the administration.

"We've had a lot of people reach out, wanting to be considered for various positions in the administration," Whitmer said. "Really vetting and making sure we've got the right people in positions is the hard part — not finding people that are interested."

In the interview, Whitmer said she's considering breaking up the 14,000-employee Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that Snyder merged four years ago, but hasn't made a final decision.

"We're going to have a thoughtful plan of how we improve on what we're doing, whether it's as one department or two," she said.